TRIGGER WARNING!
This website contains poetry and true stories about trauma, personality disorders, suicidal thoughts, self-harming, depression and other significant mental health issues, as well as personal stories of emotional neglect and physical and sexual abuse, which some people might find disturbing.
Poetry for Mental Health
Supporting people with mental health challenges by motivating and inspiring them to write poetry.
Poetry for Mental Health has supported thousands of people around the world through words and poetry!
"No matter what your age, background and experience, culture or identity; whether an established writer with many published titles to your credit, or an aspiring poet who has never written a word of poetry in your life, our philosophy here is to embrace, welcome and support everyone, everywhere suffering from mental health challenges, and help you cope through words and poetry."
About ...
"I formed
Poetry for Mental Health at the outbreak of COVID, as a way of helping people cope mentally through lockdown and the pandemic by inspiring them to write poetry. Six years, seven books (just started working on our eighth), many hundreds of poets, and many thousands of pieces of poetry later,
Poetry for Mental Health
is still inspiring people to write poetry for positive mental health! And with around 1600 visitors each and every month, it
is now probably the largest and most visited website of its kind on the net!"
ROBIN BARRATT - Founder POETRY FOR MENTAL HEALTH
NEW - This Week's Featured Poetry (x3)
Week commencing 19th January, 2026
BROKEN MAN
By Brad Copp
Life brings him to his knees
This world will push him down
Carrying burdens no one sees
Trying to swim to only drown
Too proud to ever complain
About his back or calloused hands
He sits alone in the pain
Holding pieces of a broken man
His thoughts are a living hell
Feeling he is not enough
Nothing more than a hollow shell
He hides it by being tough
Thinking about ending it all
For he can no longer stand
Wishing he had someone to call
Holding pieces of a broken man
Each morning he opens his eyes
Struggling to get out of bed
Tries to smile but only cries
Unable to get out of his head
His heart desires love and peace
Hoping someone would understand
That the voices never cease
Holding pieces of a broken man.
ABOUT THE POEM: "This poem is a vulnerable one for me. There is not enough out there that represents men's mental health. I know a lot of men can relate to this."
BORDERLINE
By Harriet Coppard
Sit on that fence
We're borderline
Caught emotions
Stuck in time
We're hot and cold
We burn and freeze
Searching for
a real release
Anger flares
In fiery eyes
They'll don't see under
Our disguise
Caught between
The good and bad
No grey exists
Just happy, sad
Black and white
It's a or b
You cannot cure
What you can't see
Yet we are stronger
Than you know
We walk the places
You could not go
We know so much
We feel intense
That borderline
That same old fence
REARRANGING
By Hawawu Tsado
This feels so much like dying—only I’m alive,
Or maybe a rebirth? But that would be a lie.
A life that was once mine feels far away—
a hazy dream, an old fairytale, maybe an illusion.
Each day, time and memory drift farther,
like slipping in and out of consciousness,
like a mirage.
Growing up feels like a curse,
like being punished for a wrong,
like wearing a mask and playing dress-up,
like paying a price—
a cruel, unspeakable price.
It almost seems I prayed to a god
who answers only after dark.
As days pass, pieces of memory blacken.
Time turns hazy.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
Today leaves me clutching broken shards—
they scar my palms,
leave me bleeding,
until I feel time slipping again,
and dark returns,
till tomorrow—
or not.
Maybe this isn’t dying—
maybe it’s my body learning
how to carry more weight
than it was meant to hold at once.
Memory blurs when it’s overloaded.
Time stutters when the heart is tired.
Even light flickers before it steadies.
I am not disappearing—
I am rearranging.
Pain makes a mess of the room
before it learns where things belong.
I'll Stay.
Maybe not forever.
Just long enough
to see what tomorrow brings
when it finally arrives.
Maybe light waits at the end.
Maybe it doesn’t.
Either way,
I’m still here.
ABOUT THE POEM: "This piece reflects on personal experience, memory, and the emotional complexity of growing up while navigating loss, disorientation, and the challenge of carrying more than one’s heart is ready for. It explores the interplay of mental and emotional struggle with endurance, ultimately finding a quiet strength in survival."
ABOUT HAWAWU: Hawawu is a student writer based in Kogi, Nigeria. Her work explores themes of memory, identity, and resilience, and of elevating voices that speak to mental health and emotional experience.
Lots more Featured Poetry here:
Our Books
FORTHCOMING TITLES ...
Working cover only
PTSD
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
A collection of interviews, personal stories, poetry and short prose from around the world on the subject of PTSD.
Publication date: SPRING 2026
SUBMISSIONS TO THIS TITLE ARE NOW OPEN!
Personal Journeys
In their own words, writers and poets write about their own personal journey with mental health.
Interviews
Nine amazing writers and poets about their journey with mental health.
Featured Poets
Featuring almost 80 poets around the world, with up to six pieces of their work, and a little about the author and the stories behind their work.
Featured Books
Promoting poetry books and publications.
Articles
Articles about poetry and positive mental health.
Publishing Services
We publish books for other people too!!!
Would you like to see your poetry collection published as a paperback and Kindle, and available for other people to read around the world? Prices start from just £150.00 for a chapbook / short collection. Click on the link for more info. Plus
Promoting Your Book- information and advice for promoting and marketing your book. We have published over 100 books for other people. Just a few examples below:
Other ...
Directory of Support Services
Charities, groups and organisations worldwide offering mental health help and support to people in crisis.
Mental Health First Aid
Identifying warning signs of common mental health crisis, and how to guide a person towards safety and appropriate help. More info ...
Newsletters ...
NEW - Newsletters ONLINE
What's new at Poetry for Mental Health. Our monthly newsletters are now available to read online.
Send us your name and email address and we'll keep you updated with our news and calls for submissions. We'll never send you more than one email a month, or pass your details onto anyone else ... ever!
PLEASE DONATE
ALL donations go towards promoting and publishing poetry for mental health. Click on the button below for donation options or contact us to sponsor this platform. Thank you!
NOTE ON CONTRIBUTIONS: We publish mental health poetry from around the world, and for a number contributors to this website, English is not their first language. Unlike some other platforms, we don't heavily edit a poet's own work (if we did, it would then not be their own work!), so please focus on a poet's messages and meanings, and not necessarily on any grammatical mistakes or translated imperfections that may arise within their contribution.